The Curse of the Gale Mansion

Chapter 4

"So, what exactly is a Sanctification?" Will asked skeptically as he and Hark entered a large chapel, "Especially if Casper can't witness it."

Hark sighed, "It's a long story."

"Then tell me." Will demanded.

Hark waved him over to the chapel's broad center. The room was circular and the walls were covered with a bunch of stained glass windows. The chapel was completely marble, gold chandeliers hung from the ceiling and the pews were the same color.

"I should start with this: magic exists." Hark said, rummaging through the large storage of bottles and vials filled with a variety of colored liquids.

"Well, I knew that. Casper's a vampire." Will said.

Hark grabbed a vail of a rose gold powder, "Good. You see, magic exists everywhere. You just have to look for it. But back to the subject at hand," he paused, "Casper was cursed."

Will frowned, "What?"

Hark approached Will, sprinkling the powder in a circle around him, "A few years ago Casper's mother died. At the time he was engaged to a magician's daughter by the name of Mika."

"He was engaged?"

Hark nodded, "Mika was adorable, really," he smiled to himself, "And she was a genius with magic. I learned many things from her. She had short lops of blond hair and stunning teal eyes..."

"You liked her." Will cut in. Bored.

"No. I loved her, Will," Hark took a bottle of some sort of clear liquid, "Which was a mistake because in my jealousy I turned Casper against her. As his magic mentor and best friend I convinced him to sap all the magic from her core."

"I'm guessing he did." Will said.

"Yeah," Hark sighed, "Mika was enraged. She told her father. She and Casper broke up. But her father took it even further. He cursed Casper."

Hark poured the liquid around the circle of powder. The two hissed, morphing.

"The curse was simple. For the next five years of his life Casper would be cursed as a vampire. The magician thought since Casper had supposedly sucked the magic out of his daughter, sucking the life out of others would be fitting."

"What does Sanctification have to do with this?" Will asked impatiently.

Hark traced a line of purple paint down Will's forehead, "I'm getting to that," he continued, "If Casper doesn't fall in love with someone by the end of those five years he will become a vampire forever."

"So...what?"

"When you get Sanctified you become a part of the curse. Rose and Lu and a few others you haven't met have been Sanctified because I thought they'd be the one for Casper."

"But they're not," Will said, "And you're assuming I am? What's gonna happen if Casper doesn't love me or whatever?"

"Then when those five years are up you and the rest of the Sanctified will be trapped here and Casper will torment and suck your blood for eternity."

Will's eyes widened.

He glanced down at the paint traced down his arms and feet and the powder around him, his breathing accelerating.

"No, I don't want to do this," he said.

Hark took a step back, seeming to not have heard him, and began to mumble some sort of magic spell.

"Wait. Don't!" Will begged, frantically trying to wipe the paint off of his arms.

It was too late.

Hark's forehead tattoo began to glow, his whispering somehow filled the chapel, his feet lifting off the tile floor.